which smr to use

[ldonato]

i have three scratches on my driver`s side door that i want to take care of soon. i was looking at 3m smr as one of the steps i want to take (might wetsand first, then something a little more coarse than the smr, then the smr) but didnt know which smr to get. while this sounds a little silly, is my car light or dark with regards to smr. i have steel blue bmw. thanks

[imported_StyleTEG]

My opinion has always been to use a pretty light abrasive and work your way up if needed. This way you won`t much more clearcoat than is necissary.



SMR is a good place to start, unless they are very light swirls. It shouldn`t make a huge difference which product you use (light vs dark), it mainly refers to the filler content which should be washed off anyways if you are going to use Klasse or Z. I beleave the dark formula is slightly more abrasive too, but not enough to make a huge difference.

[imported_doug]

If you have a scratch you think you need to wetsand first, you`re miles away from any help an SMR can give you. I hope you dn`t have to go that far - but as suggested start lighter. I`ve had reasonable success spot treating scratches with Meuiars` Scratch-X. It leaves a pretty darn good finish. If you have haze left from any step, you need a lightger compund to get rid of it - but PROPERLY APPLIED even 3M FI-II can leave a really good finish. IMPROPERLY APPLIED, less aggressive 3M SMR can leave a haze behind. Proper application means working the living @#$% out of the compound so that the abrasives break down all the way into polish. By hand this is possibly impossible, with an orbital it take more time and pressure than you might think.



Meguiar`s Swirl Remover 2.0 isn`t very abrasive but has outstanding filling capabilities, and is safe to use by hand.

[Preachers Sheets]

When I had my Saturn I used 3M SMR to correct scrape marks I got by backing into a mini metal trash barrel. Couldn`t see it in my rear view mirror. Anyhow, it fixed roughly 95% of the scrapes, I was really amazed by how potent that stuff really was. Like Carguy said, you really need to go to town and work it into the clearcoat. It worked for me.